Pep Guardiola doesn’t believe Arsenal are Man City’s biggest rivals for the title (Picture: Getty)
Pep Guardiola has dismissed current leaders Arsenal as the biggest threat to Manchester City’s Premier League crown.
The Gunners have made a near faultless start to the new season and their title credentials were underlined by last weekend’s win over Liverpool, which came hot on the heels of an impressive north London derby victory.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have gone toe-to-toe with City in recent seasons and have twice finished as runners-up by a solitary point.
The Reds, however, have started the current campaign a shadow of their usual selves and are currently 14 points off the pace following their defeat the Emirates.
Liverpool will have an opportunity to claw themselves back into the race when they entertain City and Anfield on Sunday and Guardiola isn’t ready to write the Merseysiders off just yet and believes they still represent his side’s biggest rivals for domestic supremacy.
‘Liverpool have lways have been [Man City’s biggest challengers],’ said Guardiola ahead of Sunday’s acid test.
‘I know the quality they have. If it was like this with 10 games left, I would say I don’t think they can catch, but now anything can happen.
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‘It’s always difficult in the years since we have arrived here together, it will be a tough game and I don’t expect anything else.
‘The game will be dictated on the pitch, not by the table, because we are in front of them or behind, not because of those kind of things.
‘I know the quality they have, they know the quality we have. If this was with three games left, I would say they could not catch top of the league but with so long left plus a World Cup, anything can happen.’
Guardiola’s future, meanwhile, is increasingly becoming an intriguing sub-plot with the Spaniard yet to commit his long-term future to the club he joined six years ago.
Addressing that subject at his pre-match press conference, he said: ‘You know I am not thinking one second about that.
‘We have two or three weeks until the World Cup and this is an important time. After that we have plenty of time to talk about that.’
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The Gunners are the early pacesetters.